Party Saviors Playing It Safe

For a group that views itself as the savior of the Democratic Party, the newly formed Democratic Leadership Council has made a decidedly timid entry onto the political scene.

Its first press conference, held in a brightly lit Senate meeting last week, contained more talk about retreating from confrontation with the Democratic National Committee than about pressuring the party over such key issues as special-interest influence and political philosophy.

``We view the council not as a rival to any other party entity but as a way station or bridge back into the party for elected Democrats,`` said Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., who will serve as chairman.

Yet the group`s stated goal of reforming the party through a wholly independent organization is in itself an act of defiance. The Democratic National Committee under newly elected Chairman Paul Kirk, has set up an identical committee that will now have to compete with the Leadership Council for Democratic loyalty.

Three Florida Democrats are on the council`s 40-member roster of elected officials: Sen. Lawton Chiles, Gov. Bob Graham and Rep. Buddy MacKay of Ocala.

The Leadership Council, with its decidedly conservative outlook by Democratic standards, will almost certainly develop a prescription for reform that will require purging liberal power brokers from the party`s central committee.

They may not want to admit it now, but the Democrats behind the Leadership Council see themselves and their allies as the future power brokers of the party. Two of its members, Gephardt and Virginia Gov. Charles Robb, have been mentioned as possible presidential candidates. Chiles already has made one unsuccessful bid to become Senate Democratic leader, and may make another.

Such a shift in power to the party`s moderates and conservatives would require dethroning the union leaders and special-interest caucuses now in control.

That realignment would also entail a regional shift in authority from the more liberal Northeast to the more conservative South and West.

Ultimately, rank-and-file Democrats will have to decide which leaders to follow.